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Fountain Tire Encourages Canadians to Keep Calm and Drive on this Winter

Winter tires proven to be far superior to all-season and all-weather options for winter driving

PRINCE GEORGE, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Nov. 15, 2016) - Fountain Tire, one of Canada's leading tire and automotive service providers wants to ensure that every Canadian is educated about the benefits of winter tires to take on the predicted harsh winter. In an effort to do so, the Fountain Tire team is pleased to share key safety information and findings regarding the use of winter tires from The Canadian Association of Road Safety Professionals (CARSP) and The Canadian Traffic Injury Research Foundation (TIRF).

"We understand that it is easy to be confused about the differences between winter tires, all-weather tires and all-season tires," says Dean Andrews, Fountain Tire. "The team at Fountain Tire wants every Canadian to know the facts about their winter tire options so they have peace of mind navigating their local terrain through blizzards, black ice and whatever conditions stand between them and their destination this winter. As temperatures begin to fall in and around Prince George, road and highway driving conditions can become quickly impeded by snow and ice, which is why winter tires are so important to the personal safety of drivers and their families."

According to a report by TIRF, newer generations of winter tires make use of a flexible rubber compound that is less prone to stiffen in cold temperatures and have treads designed to improve traction on any road surface, whether it be wet, slushy, snowy, icy or dry and cold. In fact, winter tires have better overall traction at -40 degrees Celsius than all-season tires do at +4 degrees Celsius - an important function for consumers to note when making decisions about how to equip their vehicles for winter driving.

The same study found that alternating the use of winter and summer tires instead of using all-season tires year-round can offer long-term cost-saving benefits for drivers. Winter tires have been proven to both increase the likelihood of avoiding costly collisions and improve fuel economy, with a resulted reduction of 5 per cent in fuel consumption over the course of a year due to better traction. One element of the study also found that the universal use of winter tires resulted in a 5 per cent decrease in accident victims and 574 fewer road accident injuries per year, proving once again that while winter tires can be cost-savers, they are also key to personal safety as well.

Fountain Tire is committed to providing Canadians with the safest tires for winter driving. In an effort to encourage Canadians to learn about the benefits of winter tires and choose the safest option available, Fountain Tire is offering discounts on sets of four winter tires, through until December 10, 2016.

"The Canadian Association of Road Safety Professionals wants to remind Canadians that tires play a crucial role in the vehicle's overall safety," said Jennifer Kroeker-Hall, President of CARSP. "We strongly recommend the use of winter tires rather than all season tires, and that they be used on all four wheels, since all wheels interact with the ice and snow."

Fountain Tire recently gave consumers the chance to try the three different tire types and created a video of the experience to help educate Canadians. The video can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/8ve05N3P39c.

Established in 1956, Fountain Tire is one of Canada's premier tire and automotive service retail networks with 161 locations spanning Central and Western Canada from Vaughan, north of Toronto to Victoria, British Columbia. The company is also a leading provider of tires and tire-related services to commercial truck fleets and off-road vehicles used in the agriculture, oil and gas, mining, and construction sectors. The majority of Fountain Tire managers own equity in their store. This partnership-based business model combines community invested store management with corporate intelligence to provide customers with service they can trust. The company's shared ownership business model has enabled it to be named among Canada's "Best Managed Companies" every year since 1994.